College World Series history

Welcome to the College World Series historical database, brought to you by Omaha.com and the Omaha World-Herald. This page is our growing home for historical information about past NCAA baseball championships, which have been played in Omaha since 1950.

You can read historical information for each year of the CWS, dating to 1947. We also created a history page for every school that has played in the CWS. Click a banner on the main page or select a team or year from these dropdown menus.

1972 College World Series

Participating teams

USC captures eighth crown

Front page (click to expand)

Series highlights

Reliever Russ McQueen capped a five-inning relief performance by snuffing a bases-loaded, no-out threat to lead Southern California to its third straight CWS title with a 1-0 win against Arizona State. It was coach Rod Dedeaux's eighth championship for the university since 1948, including seven in Omaha.

McQueen allowed one hit and struck out five in closing the game.

The Trojans, 5-1 in the tournament including a previous 3-0 loss to the Sun Devils, scored the title game's lone run on a Tim Steele single, followed by a walk, a force play and a two-out wild pitch.

Overall attendance for the 23 College World Series held in Omaha surpassed a million during the series' eighth session.

Most Outstanding Player

Russ McQueen, Southern California

The 19-year-old McQueen recorded one save and three victories in the series — all in relief — including his championship-game feat.